Strawberry Boxes Forever

I was trying to think of a super quick craft for Valentine’s Day and came across an idea in the unlikely place of Oriental Trading Company’s website.  Their Strawberry Box is a cute and simple paper craft that takes 20 minutes to put together, 30 minutes if you choose to cover the box with fabric as I did. 

The first thing I did was to print out the template provided onto cardstock.  I roughly cut out the two shapes and fused fusible webbing onto the back of each piece of paper.  I then fused fabric to the other side of the webbing and cut out the pieces along the lines.  I found my buttonhole punch worked better than a hole punch to make the necessary holes through both layers.  I used an embossing stylus to score the paper along the dotted lines, and my hot glue gun worked great for securing the tab.  Then it was a matter of threading ribbon through the holes of the berry and the leaf and tying a bow.  I am planning to fill the box with Hershey kisses for a sweet Valentine treat for my 3-year-old.

Bag of the Week 5

The Ribbon Handled Bag

Before my first son was born in 2006 I used to teach kids to sew at G Street Fabrics.  I really loved working with blooming sewing enthusiasts and was always pleased at how proud they were with their creations (even when they were terrible).  One week I was called and asked to act as an extra pair of hands in a class for a Girl Scout troop where another teacher would take the lead and plan the project.  Sue arrived with a darling little ribbon handled bag that she had received as a Christmas present.  And like many of us do when we find something wonderful, she had knocked it off (that’s “copied” for those of you wondering).  That day in class we made these little bags, and they were a huge hit.

A few months later I was teaching a class for 8 to 12 year olds and decided to do this bag as the project.  I arrived at the store to find a handful of students but nothing set up for me – the store had dropped the ball and didn’t realize there was a class that day.  Thank God for Lynn Berry who had brought her daughter to the class.  Lynn is a friend of mine and knows her way around a sewing machine just fine, thank you very much.  She stayed and helped set up all ten machines.  I don’t think I could have done it without her.  Sometime later Lynn asked me for instructions on making this bag and, since I had had other requests from parents, I wrote up a tutorial to share with instructions and lots of pictures.  You can also find other projects on my Tutorial page (the link is in the righthand side bar).  Lynn says she has made a number of these bags in all sizes including one to carry a laptop – they make great teacher’s gifts.

I liked the bag just as it was but wanted to give it a little extra personality so I added a kanzashi flower made from coordinating micro-dot cottons and an oddball button from my button box.

More Kanzashi

In my recent post Love in Bloom I wax poetic (sort of) about Kanzashi, folded fabric flowers that can be used to adorn all sorts of items.  I love the trend of big flowers that people are wearing these days, and I wanted a flower pin of my own to wear.  Starting with some moth-eaten scraps of raspberry coat-weight wool I fashioned a 7-petal flower.  For the center I covered a large button with a raspberry and white silk houndstooth check.  I wanted to be able to wear this pin on my leather jacket but did not, of course, want to put a pin through the leather.  Instead I used a mitten clip on the back which I can clip onto the collar or zipper edge of my jacket.  When placing it on my collar I made sure the teeth of the clip were centered over the stitching along the collar edge so as not to leave an impression in the leather.  Love it!

making messes

Some people complain that art blogs give a false impression that everything is beautiful and rosy.  Since it is never hard to find the ugly side of life (our airwaves and newspapers are full of it) I like to think of beautiful blogs as a little balancing act.  I will admit that well-crafted blogs can give the impression that the blogette has her act together (perhaps more than is warranted) which could intimidate others from even trying to join in the fun.  Well, I’m here to tell you that, in my world anyway, I have messes.  Sometimes big messes. 

I recently had to have an intervention with my sewing room.  It had reached the point where I just couldn’t function anymore.  During my journal cover project I attempted to access my storage box of blue quilting cottons and caused a fabric landslide.  I couldn’t get into my closet.  So, for the past two weeks I have been regaining control.   I sorted through boxes, cabinets, drawers and shelves.  I attempted to organize like items into some recognizable storage system.  While “filing” my huge supply of ribbon I thought, “how did I end up with 5 spools of white ¼” satin ribbon?” and I realized the answer was that it was often easier to drive to Michael’s and buy a new spool than to locate the ones I already owned. 

You know how things get worse before they get better in projects like this?  Well, my room sat for about 3 days in that “worse” stage; I was overwhelmed with the task before me.  But then slowly I started concentrating on one area at a time.  All of the things that had ended up in the room that didn’t belong there were carried off and eventually I started to see the end.  I also took the time to hang my bulletin and magnet board which I use for notes and inspiration – they had not been put up since I moved into my house in 2006.  Now when I look around my nice clean space I am filled with enthusiasm for new projects and can’t wait to make another mess – a creative mess.

bag of the week 4

With New Years Eve just behind us I want to share a tiny little bag that would be perfect for wearing with an evening gown or fancy dress.  It is just large enough to hold a credit card, ID, key and some cash, and can be worn more like jewelry than a purse.

The components of this purse are made entirely with thread on an embroidery machine.  The design was digitized by Stitch Delight.  This free-standing lace is stitched on water soluble stabilizer which is rinsed away leaving behind the stitched design.  Each purse consists of a front, back and flap.  Each piece is stitched individually and sewn together by machine to finish.  I also chose to create a lining for my purses which I hand sewed into the completed lace purse.  The strap was made by twisting multiple strands of the embroidery thread into a cord using a Spinster.

These designs are no longer available from Stitch Delight though they do have some beautiful purse designs that are a bit larger.